Improvement in inner soles for boots and shoes



' WILLIAM M. BELCHER.

Inner Sole for Boots and Shoes.

No. 123,665; Patented Feb. 13, 1872.

//////W////// W A //////%////////////////////A wwmessss UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM M. BELOHER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN INNER SOLES FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,665, dated February 13, 1872.

Specification describing an Improved Inner Sole for use in the construction of Boots and Shoes, invented by WILLIAM M. BELCHER, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

f My invention consists of an inner sole composed of lay ers pasted together and bound at the edges in the manner described hereafter, so as y to prevent the layers from separating, and so 1 as to add such strength at and near the edges as to prevent the stitches from tearing out.

Anordinary inner sole for a boot or shoe is made by pasting together and compressing several layers of inferior split leather, large quantities of such inner soles being made and sold as articles of commerce to boot and shoe manufacturers who employ them in the con- .struction of machine-made boots and shoes.

The objection to these inner soles is the liability of the layers of leather to part when damp, and the tendency of. the stitches near the edgeof the inner sole to tear out. 1 obviate these objections by binding the edges in the manner illustrated in the drawing, in

I Which- Figure 1 is an exaggerated sectional view of part of an inner sole made according to my I invention, and Fig. 2 represents a modified mode of carrying my invention into effect.

' In Fig. 1, a a a are layers of leather, which, when pasted together, form the body of the inner sole, and b is a strip of thin leather,but of a tougher quality than the layers, or they strip may be of any other suitable fabric or material.

This strip is pasted or cemented on the top of the layers a, and is turned under and pasted to the bottom of the inner sole, as shown. In Fig. 2, the edges of the inner sole are protected and strengthened by a simple binding-strip, d, which is pasted to the top and bottom and edges of the insole. In either case the layers of leather are firmly held together, while the additional binding imparts such strength to the inner sole that the stitches cannot tear out. a

I claim as my invention As a new article of manufacture, an inner sole for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes, consisting of several layers connected by a binding, applied as described, for the pur- 

